Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

According to Zacks, “Bed Bath & Beyond is gaining from its focus on transformation plan, which is on track to deliver a seamless customer experience. The transformation plan focuses on improving operational efficiency through overhaul of IT and business processes, as well as adopting customer-centric plans like enriching product assortment and enhancing services. Further, its capital initiatives and constant shareholder-friendly moves bode well. Moreover, the company reported top and bottom-line beat in third-quarter fiscal 2017. Sales gained from opportunistic marketing spend and increased promotional offerings. However, higher advertising costs and lower margins led earnings to decline year over year. Notably, the company has lagged the industry in three months due to strained margins and soft results. It expects the six-quarter long trend of strained margins due to higher shipping and coupon expenses as well as rise in SG&A to continue in fiscal 2017.”

Get Bed Bath & Beyond alerts:

Several other research firms also recently commented on BBBY. Morgan Stanley set a $22.00 price objective on shares of Bed Bath & Beyond and gave the company a sell rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. BidaskClub raised shares of Bed Bath & Beyond from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Bed Bath & Beyond from $30.00 to $25.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, December 21st. Telsey Advisory Group reaffirmed a market perform rating on shares of Bed Bath & Beyond in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. downgraded shares of Bed Bath & Beyond from a neutral rating to an underweight rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $23.03 to $18.00 in a report on Friday, January 26th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. The company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $25.39.

Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY) opened at $21.83 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3,108.87, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.05, a PEG ratio of -3.91 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.31, a current ratio of 1.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54. Bed Bath & Beyond has a twelve month low of $19.07 and a twelve month high of $40.97.

Bed Bath & Beyond (NASDAQ:BBBY) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, December 20th. The retailer reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.37 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $2.95 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.90 billion. Bed Bath & Beyond had a net margin of 4.11% and a return on equity of 19.07%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. sell-side analysts predict that Bed Bath & Beyond will post 3.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 17th. Investors of record on Friday, March 16th will be paid a $0.15 dividend. This represents a $0.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 15th. Bed Bath & Beyond’s dividend payout ratio is currently 17.24%.

In other Bed Bath & Beyond news, VP Matthew Fiorilli sold 16,957 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $22.62, for a total transaction of $383,567.34. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 97,419 shares in the company, valued at $2,203,617.78. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 5.00% of the company’s stock.

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Ffcm LLC raised its position in Bed Bath & Beyond by 2,958.6% during the third quarter. Ffcm LLC now owns 4,435 shares of the retailer’s stock worth $104,000 after acquiring an additional 4,290 shares during the period. Cerebellum GP LLC acquired a new position in Bed Bath & Beyond during the fourth quarter worth $121,000. Cornerstone Capital Management Holdings LLC. acquired a new position in Bed Bath & Beyond during the fourth quarter worth $149,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Bed Bath & Beyond during the fourth quarter worth $151,000. Finally, State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in Bed Bath & Beyond during the fourth quarter worth $180,000. Institutional investors own 89.63% of the company’s stock.

ILLEGAL ACTIVITY NOTICE: This piece was published by Watch List News and is the sole property of of Watch List News. If you are accessing this piece on another domain, it was illegally stolen and reposted in violation of US and international trademark and copyright law. The correct version of this piece can be accessed at https://www.watchlistnews.com/bed-bath-beyond-bbby-downgraded-to-hold-at-zacks-investment-research/1909206.html.